Dorco Double Edge Blade SKU Changes & Clarifications

[Jay21]

I like Dorco blades, and one of my favorites in general is the Titan. I noticed that the Dorcos I've used so far have all been made in the Vietnamese plant and they feel noticeably thinner than other blades.

 

[Lane101]

I like Dorco blades, and one of my favorites in general is the Titan. I noticed that the Dorcos I've used so far have all been made in the Vietnamese plant and they feel noticeably thinner than other blades.

Hi Jay21, Glad to hear your Titans work so well for you. Dorco makes my favorite blades. See post #55 above regarding Titan blades regarding some recent mixed reviews. Let us know how long ago you purchased your Titan blades and if the tucks state that the blades are double coated or just note "new cutting edge technology".

Trying to help us get a better sense regarding if the mixed Titan reviews are just the normal YMMV or if Dorco changed the Titans, possibly by eliminating the double coating.

 

[Lane101]

My last experience with Dorco blades goes back to 2017. ST300 were mediocre and ST301 not too bad. Both were still produced in South Korea and at the time they surely were two different blades.
Probably, after they moved production in Vietnam, Dorco sold the same HQ blade as both ST300 and ST301 until they finally cancelled the ST301 from their catalog.
At the end the only Dorco product I liked was their 5-blades cartridge.

Hi Mata, thank you for sharing. The ST301 and ST300 are actually the same Dorco Stainless blades with the only difference that the 301's came in plastic tucks while the 300's are packaged in cardboard. See the many posts above that detail this out. Per some old posts (see post#4 in this thread with link to where Dorco confirmed this back in 2008) from fellow B&Bers this appears to have been true even before production was moved to Vietnam. Dorco Prime blades are the same with STP300's in cardboard and STP301 in cardboard and again the same blade. Per what we've seen in the catalog it looks like Dorco is phasing out the plastic tucks and just going to cardboard.

This is likely part of a strategy, supported by movement of the DE production to Vietnam, of focusing DEs on lower per capita income countries where the shaving market is less mature. As part of the shift to cardboard tucks each individual blade is double wrapped with a bar code on the outer wrapper. Plastic tuck 301 blades only have a single waxed paper wrapper that is not labeled for individual sale. This extra wrap on each blade, that is marked for individual sale, is also consistent with the above strategy as it allows local village/town general stores to better sell single blades to customers who may not have enough disposable income to purchase an entire tuck of 10. A common pattern among CPG manufacturers where products, such as shampoo, are sold in single use packets to make them more affordable.

Their only other DE blade, the Titan, goes under the STL300 product code and is often sold under different brand names, such as Dorco Klass in India, tailored to the local language.

If you have a chance to try some of the newer made in Vietnam blades let us know how they work for you.

 

[Jay21]

Hi Jay21, Glad to hear your Titans work so well for you. Dorco makes my favorite blades. See post #55 above regarding Titan blades regarding some recent mixed reviews. Let us know how long ago you purchased your Titan blades and if the tucks state that the blades are double coated or just note "new cutting edge technology".

Trying to help us get a better sense regarding if the mixed Titan reviews are just the normal YMMV or if Dorco changed the Titans, possibly by eliminating the double coating.

I bought them a few months ago and they say new cutting technology.

 

[Lane101]

I bought them a few months ago and they say new cutting technology.

Thank you, supports the recent mixed Titan blade reviews as resulting primarily from YMMV.

 

[Kent Kimmons]

 

[Lane101]

View attachment 1673217

Hi Kent, Just noticed your post here where Razorbladesclub omitted noting the teflon (PFTE) coating on the ST301 blades. Repeating some of what I posted on your 132 shaves thread so all the correct Dorco information is in one place.

The RazorBladesClub.com site where you sourced your information is just plain wrong. We've confirmed that ST300 and ST301 are the same blades via direct B&B member communications with Dorco going back to 2008 and detailed reviews of the Dorco web site and catalog. Details via the above posts in this thread. The only difference is that ST301 is in a plastic tuck while ST300 comes in cardboard. These blades are coated in teflon (PFTE).

Have a look at the other obvious errors on the RazorBladesClub site (screenshot below). They show multiple listings for the same blade with one from Vietnam and one not noted as from Vietnam in the title yet in the detailed blade specification they show Vietnam as the country of origin for both listings. They do this for both the Titans and the ST300 blades and can't even consistently spell the word Platinum correctly.

Finally the tuck photos for the ST300 and ST301 blades, that supposedly originate in Vietnam, look like those from older made in Korea production as they don't note HQ Technology. Unsure where the yellow and blue ST300 tuck is from as I've never seen this before for the Dorco Stainless blades. Possibilities are anything from old production, counterfeit, or custom design for a specific local market.

The fact that they list the same blade twice with one from Vietnam and another not from Vietnam indicates that they still have quantities of older made in Korea production they have yet to sell through. All the confusion on their web site can make one wonder if newer made in Vietnam blades are really being shipped when ordered or if they just added "made in Vietnam" when in reality they are still shipping old Korean production.

The information provided by this retailer on their web site is not reliable

 

[Lane101]

Adding a copy and link to this 2011 B&B post further confirming that the Dorco ST300 and ST301 blades were exactly the same even back then:

From @Masterblaster on 3/2/2011 (link below):

"I contacted DORCO in San Diego as promised. Customer service could not answer the question and referred me to Mr. Jason Ahn, DORCO, Korea. Here is his reply:
Dear Julian,

Thank you for your email
Regarding your inquiry, the quality of ST300 and ST301 is same and the only difference is the packaging.
If you need any other information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Jason Ahn

PS. Please send email copy to Charles Park ([email protected]) as well.

-----Original Message-----
From: Julian [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 4:56 AM
To: Jason Ahn
Subject: DORCO ST300/ST 301

Dear Mr. Ahn:

Your office in San Diego, California was unable to answer these questions. However, they kindly referred them to you. I belong to a very large group of double edge shavers, who are very fond of DORCO Blades. We count them among the best available to us. Will you verify the difference between the ST 300 and the ST 301? Is the ST 301 a repackaged ST 300 in a hard plastic dispenser or is it a different blade? If there is a difference what are its distinguishing properties?
Very kind regards,

Julian "
[/color]


Link to 2011 post with Copy of Dorco Communication on ST300 & ST301 blades:

This must be a Typo - 1000 Blades $8.88 + $3 shipping

yeah, A teflon coating on your rusty butter knife really makes the difference. Yes sir, it's the difference between gliding and ripping or skipping and ripping. :thumbup:

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Lane101]

Link to an old 2012 post on Dorco Pace DE and SE blade 5 packs for retail sale that recently came up in another discussion. Adding link here for reference purposes. Unclear, if anyone finds these for sale, if they are still made or just old stock.

New Dorco packaging

I just saw this on Dorco's website, it looks like they've changed their DE packaging to fit in with their Pace line of cartridge razors (which are what I used in between getting off of Fusions and switching to DEs.) From the product description these are the STD-301 blades. The 300's don't...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Rivers23]

Sorry to revive the thread, I wanted to get more Dorcos and I kinda got into a deep dive into the topic.
The first pic is the current Dorco catalog. No plastic tucks, no ST301.
Then, on Amazon I found clarification that the packaging has been updated, it used to confuse me because I didn't know if the red D package was new or South Korea production.

I buy my blades from Razorbladesclub and I now I have no idea what are they selling, seems to me they're still selling the old stock mixed with new, but the new has older packaging. Basically, who knows.

Then, my problem was where to buy the new blades from. In Europe it's not easy, and Amazon.com has crazy shipping fees. So I went to Aliexpress, found the newest ST300, good reviews, many sold, I'm fairly certain they're not fake haha. As for the newest Primes and Titans, I don't know where to get them, I'd appreciate any pointers

 

[Steelerfan]

The very latest of the Dorco blades are shown on the left in the photos. You will notice that the name Dorco is more rounded now. In the photo on the right, you can see the older logo with the red "D." All of the current blades are made in Vietnam.

And with all due respect to RBC (I buy a lot of blades from them), they should not be taken as a solute fact in their blade descriptions.

 

[Mr Scruf]

The very latest of the Dorco blades are shown on the left in the photos. You will notice that the name Dorco is more rounded now. In the photo on the right, you can see the older logo with the red "D." All of the current blades are made in Vietnam.

And with all due respect to RBC (I buy a lot of blades from them), they should not be taken as a solute fact in their blade descriptions.

Thanks for the info. Where is the best place to buy the latest made in Vietnam Dorco Primes. Like yourself, I buy a lot of my blades from RBC but I think at the moment they are still selling the old Primes from Korea.

 

[Lane101]

Sorry to revive the thread, I wanted to get more Dorcos and I kinda got into a deep dive into the topic.
The first pic is the current Dorco catalog. No plastic tucks, no ST301.
Then, on Amazon I found clarification that the packaging has been updated, it used to confuse me because I didn't know if the red D package was new or South Korea production.

I buy my blades from Razorbladesclub and I now I have no idea what are they selling, seems to me they're still selling the old stock mixed with new, but the new has older packaging. Basically, who knows.

Then, my problem was where to buy the new blades from. In Europe it's not easy, and Amazon.com has crazy shipping fees. So I went to Aliexpress, found the newest ST300, good reviews, many sold, I'm fairly certain they're not fake haha. As for the newest Primes and Titans, I don't know where to get them, I'd appreciate any pointers

Hi Rivers23, No worries on reviving this thread - it's meant to be a reasonably current central repository for all our information on Dorco blades and periodically updated as new information becomes available. Have a look at some of the above posts that cover Razorbladesclub FYI regarding questions/issues on the exact blades they are selling.

Again the ST300/301 are the same blades with the only difference being a cardboard vs plastic tuck. Same for the STP300/301 Prime blades. Additionally the 300 cardboard tuck blades are individually double wrapped. This has been confirmed by Dorco. Additionally I have all four of these and can't tell any difference between the 300/301 blades.

You might want to try Connaught Shaving (UK Based) if they get back in-stock on Prime blades. They've noted that any Dorcos they sell are from Vietnam. They are in-stock on the ST-300 blades and Titan blades for 7 and 4 British Pounds (ex. VAT) respectively. Shipping to Europe seems reasonable, did a test cart with 100 ST-300s and shipping (used Germany as the example) was only an additional 2 British Pounds.

I'm from the U.S. and have found Connaught to be reliable based on my orders last year. Other B&Bers also recommend them. As U.K. is no longer part of the E.U. you will need to check on any additional import rules that may exist.

P.S. @Mr Scruf , Best place to buy these will vary based on where you live. Above is a recommendation for Europe. If based in the U.S. then Amazon is likely your best option - just double check what the vendor is showing to confirm made in Vietnam production. I've purchased all my 100 packs from Amazon. If you live in Asia you should have a look at the above posts in this thread as Dorco often markets its DE blades under a variety of different names (e.g. Dorco Klass in India) based on what resonates best locally.

 

[Mr Scruf]

Thanks @Lane101

 

[Fresh_]

It looks like I am one of the few who preferred the old ST-301 blades before they made the switch to Vietnamese manufacturing. My ST-301 thread w/ photos

In my search to find the old Korean ST-301s I made some purchases on amazon, ebay, and RBC.

So far, the closest I have been able to find are the RBC ST-300 version that DOES NOT have (VIETNAM) in the title. Although the packaging has "made in Vietnam" on the back so I'm not entirely sure what to make of that.
For those of you wondering what it looks like when you purchase all of the ST-300, ST-301, and Titan blades from RBC, see attached.

 

[Pinto90]

I'm sorry but I don't understand so now Dorco blades are all produced only in Vietnam?
Are the Dorco ones with Ultra sharp high quality blades written on them new?

 

[cranewarrior]

So far, the closest I have been able to find are the RBC ST-300 version that DOES NOT have (VIETNAM) in the title. Although the packaging has "made in Vietnam" on the back so I'm not entirely sure what to make of that.

This particular packaging (the leftside ST300 in your pictures) is what I got when I bought some from AMZ in last 2 months. It does say it was made in Vietnam, and the performance was very good in my opinion. It cut very well for a basic blade.

 

[Fresh_]

This particular packaging (the leftside ST300 in your pictures) is what I got when I bought some from AMZ in last 2 months. It does say it was made in Vietnam, and the performance was very good in my opinion. It cut very well for a basic blade.

I find that interesting, mainly because it says made in Vietnam on the packaging but it's using the old logo on both the packaging and the blade. The one on the right seems more consistent with what I expect from the Vietnam blades with the new logo. Maybe the logo change does not necessarily correlate with manufacturing location? This raises the question, what is the difference between the two ST-300s in the photo?

 

[cranewarrior]

I find that interesting, mainly because it says made in Vietnam on the packaging but it's using the old logo on both the packaging and the blade. The one on the right seems more consistent with what I expect from the Vietnam blades with the new logo. Maybe the logo change does not necessarily correlate with manufacturing location? This raises the question, what is the difference between the two ST-300s in the photo?

Well to clarify my blades do not have the Dorco logo on them.

 

[Fresh_]

Well to clarify my blades do not have the Dorco logo on them.

View attachment 1795323

The packaging is slightly different as well. Yours has the new logo whereas the ones of the left in my photo have the old logo. Almost a guess as to what you might get.